Japan 47 Prefectures Coin Program

To mark the 60th Anniversary of Enforcement of the Local Autonomy Law, we launched "Japan 47 Prefectures Coin Program" in 2008. In this program, we will have issued a silver coin and bi-color clad coins for each of 47 prefectures in Japan until 2016. The obverse of both coins carry designs featuring each prefecture's representative scenery, history, industry, famous figures, and so on, while, the reverse designs are all the same except the inscription of the issue year.

Specifications

Silver Proof Coin

Composition: Pure SilverFace Value: 1,000 YenWeight: 31.1 gramsDiameter: 40.0 mmEdge: Helical RidgesFinish: Proof / Color PrintingMintage: 100,000 /each prefectureCommon Reverse Design:
- Snow Crystals, Moon and Cherry Blossoms
- Latent image technology is applied to the center of the largest snow crystal to make letters of “47″ representing the number of prefectures in Japan, and “60″ representing the 60th Anniversary of Enforcement of the Local Autonomy Law appear alternately when viewed from different angles.

Bicolor Clad Coin

Composition: Copper 75 %, Zinc 12.5 %, Nickel 12.5% Face Value: 500 YenWeight: 7.1 gramsDiameter: 26.5 mmEdge: Helical Ridges with two different pitchesFinish: Circulated or Brilliant Uncirculated or ProofMintage: Variable (around 1.8 million /each prefectureCommon Reverse Design:
- Shape of Japanese old coin
- Kanji letters meaning “local autonomy”
- Latent image technology is applied to the center of the shape of Japanese old coin to make letters of “47″ representing the number of prefectures in Japan, and “60″ representing the 60th Anniversary of Enforcement of the Local Autonomy Law appear alternately when viewed from different angles.

Availability

Some of 500 yen Bicolor Clad Coins, "Brilliant Uncirculated Version", are available at Japan Mint Online Shop now! (Only for customers in South Korea, Hong Kong, Macau, Australia, USA, Portugal, Denmark, Finland, Czech Republic and Poland. If you don’t have a dealer in your region, and if you don’t live in the above countries and areas, please contact us by email: overseas@mint.go.jp)